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Jan6-11, 10:02 AM   #3

Astro/Cosmo 2012
 
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Any observer who was around before the black hole formed know how much mass went in, so the mass can't be secret. The curvature of spacetime surrounding the black hole is a frozen record of how much mass went in. Note that a person inside the event horizon can't use the mass of the black hole to send information to the outside; since the mass is conserved, it's not possible to modulate the signal.